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On the pinnacle of Monrovia are the remains of what used to be an impressive five-star hotel – DUCOR. There stands the black-and-yellow statue of Joseph J Roberts, the country’s first president, overlooking Monrovia.

The founding president would have glowed with pride at what has just taken place in Liberia – the key step towards the first transfer of power in the country from one elected president to another through universal suffrage.

Just outside Liberia’s election commission crowds gathered to celebrate the announcement that George Opong Weah had won the run-off. A young man, without a shirt on, looked teary-eyed. He summed up the mood.

An aide to the president-elect said he shed tears after hearing the news.

Hardly anyone is surprised at this victory. But the crushing margin could have stunned even the staunchest supporters of the former Fifa World Player of the Year.

Yet Mr Weah now faces his hardest battle yet. He might know how to score a goal on the pitch, but he has only been a senator for three years.

Liberian footballer George Weah (R) as he campaigns for Liberia’s 2005 presidential elections in Monrovia watched by people sitting on a roofImage copyrightAFP
Image caption
Mr Weah first ran for president back in 2005 (pictured on the campaign trail)
Apart from that, he’s not a tried and tested political figure. Perhaps if he’d been allowed to contest for the presidency of the Liberian Football Association when he wanted to do so in 2004, there would have been something to assess his leadership with.

And now he is running Liberia, a country which endured a brutal civil war for 17 years, started by Charles Taylor almost exactly 28 years ago, on Christmas Eve in 1989.

Taylor would later become president, eventually forced to stand down amid a huge international pressure following his indictment for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone. He is currently serving a 50-year jail term in a UK prison following his conviction.

So it might surprise some that Mr Weah’s vice-president will be Jewel Howard Taylor, the warlord’s ex-wife.

In fact, George Weah did a lot of political horse-trading to get here. Not only with Mrs Taylor but also with a former warlord, Prince Johnson who butchered the war-time president, Samuel Kayan Doe. Satisfying those interests will prove key for the new president.

What’s more, having secured 38% of the vote in the first round, he needed to do deals to make himself – and not his rival – the choice for the other 18 candidates who couldn’t make it to the run-off. Even the running mate to Charles Brumskine, who came third and went to court to stop the run-off, endorsed Mr Weah, going against his leader’s position.

It’s not clear who will get appointed to what position but usually reliable sources say the traders are more and bigger than the horse.

Another reason for Mr Weah’s win could be because of the man he ran against. For 12 years Joseph Boakai has been Liberia’s vice-president. And for decades the 73-year-old was a civil servant. He and his supporters touted his experience as his assets. His critics cited his age as his undoing.

Supporters of George Weah, former soccer player and presidential candidate of Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), celebrate after the announcement of the presidential election results in Monrovia, Liberia December 28, 2017Image copyrightREUTERS
Image caption
Weah ran with Jewel Howard-Taylor, a somewhat controversial pick
Whether it did or not may never be entirely clear. However, he and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf have overseen a period of remarkable stability in the country, after all the wars and woes.

But Mr Weah takes control of a Liberia where corruption is believed to be endemic, poverty is rife and the economy is weak.

Fixing the economy of a country with huge natural resources including a large rubber plantation, iron ore and the prospect for oil will be crucial. And with that, providing jobs for especially the young people who comprise the majority of the population. This requires well thought-out policies and foreign assistance.

The head of the election observer mission of the regional block Ecowas has urged the world to assist Liberia. Ghana’s former President John Mahama has called on “the international community to provide the country with more support”.

Liberia has been a pioneer on the continent. As its first independent republic, it produced its first elected female president, its first winner of the coveted individual football award, and now its first former footballer president.

The teary-eyed young man needs a job to wipe his tears off. As the towering statue of President Roberts continues to watch, Liberians will ask themselves whether the euphoria was worth it.

Kenya’s main opposition coalition, the National Super Alliance (NASA) has announced a postponement of the swearing-in ceremony of its leader Raila Odinga as president of the country.

A statement released on Sunday, two days to the December 12, event said the latest decision had been reached “following extensive internal consultations and engagements with a wide range of national and international interlocutors.”

NASA said it was aware that the postponement will be a disappointment to Kenyans who were looking forward to the day. They added that a new date for the event will be announced in the coming days

“We wish to assure them that our resolve has not changed. Specifically, we wish to reiterate that any national dialogue must have electoral justice on the agenda. We are not interested in sharing illegitimate dictatorial power,” a statement signed by Raila Odinga and three other leaders stated.

Zimbabwe has officially declared 21 February to be Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day, thereby making the former president’s birthday a public holiday, the Herald newspaper reports.
New President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to form a cabinet this week.
Mr Mugabe resigned last week after a military intervention and days of mass protests.
The police and army are to stage joint patrols as the country returns to normal, the authorities have said.
They have already received reports of looting and illegal occupation of properties, particularly farms and houses.
Police had not been seen in public until 21 November when Mr Mugabe resigned and they slowly started returning to work. The army had effectively been in charge.
Before the army operation, police officers had been an ever-present sight in the centre of the capital, Harare, and roads around the country, although they were not always welcome as many complained of police harassment.

Calls for the former president’s birthday to be made a national holiday were adopted by the government in August, following intense lobbying by the Zanu-PF Youth League, the Herald reports.
The decision was officially recorded on Friday, it adds.

Media captionFather Fidelis Mukonori says he can not confirm reports that Robert Mugabe was given $10m (£7.5m)
Last week, President Mnangagwa said the former president needed to be given the respect and recognition he deserved as one of the founders and leaders of Zimbabwe.
“To me personally, he remains a father, mentor, comrade-in-arms and my leader,” he said during his acceptance speech at his inauguration on Friday.
Reports that Mr Mugabe was granted $10m (£7.5m) to ease him out of office have not been confirmed.
Break from the past?
There is speculation as to whether Mr Mnangagwa will select a broad-based government or keep figures from the Mugabe era.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has called for an inclusive “transitional authority” to mark a break with his 37-year rule and bring in reforms to pave the way for free elections next year.
There are fears that President Mnangagwa, who is associated with some of worst atrocities committed under the ruling Zanu-PF party since independence in 1980, will not usher in the democratic reforms that many in Zimbabwe are hoping for.

Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in to replace Mr Mugabe as president on Friday.
Earlier this month Mr Mnangagwa was sacked as vice-president, triggering a political crisis that led to the army taking control and Mr Mugabe eventually standing down.

Mr Mugabe and his wife, Grace, remain at their house in Harare and have no plans to leave the country.

The military takeover came in response to Mr Mugabe’s decision to position his wife as his successor and sack Mr Mnangagwa from the vice-presidency.

Kenya’s presidential election will be re-run on 17 October after the original result was annulled, the chair of Kenya’s electoral body has announced.

Wafula Chekubati also confirmed that only President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga would be on the new ballot.

Mr Kenyatta had been declared the winner of last month’s vote.

But Mr Odinga complained of widespread irregularities and the Supreme Court declared the first poll void.

The decision is believed to be the first time in African history that a supreme court has upheld an opposition challenge in a presidential election and ordered a re-run.

In a ruling on Friday, Chief Justice David Maraga said the 8 August election, in which Mr Kenyatta won 54% of the vote, had not been conducted in accordance with the constitution, declaring it “invalid, null and void”.

They said that some members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had committed “irregularities and illegalities” in the transmission of results.

The court ordered a new poll to be held within 60 days.

The opposition demanded that some IEBC officials be removed to ensure that the problems are not repeated in the second ballot.

In the shock verdict, the court said it would give further details about the decision within 21 days.

IEBC chair Wafula Chebukati said it was “imperative that a detailed judgement… is released in order to allow the commission to identify areas that require improvement”.

After the Supreme Court’s decision Mr Odinga called the electoral commission “rotten” and called for its members to resign and face prosecution.

He hailed the decision as a “a historic day for the people of Kenya and by extension for the people of the continent of Africa”.

It is the third time Mr Odinga has disputed national election results, having also lost against the sitting president in 2007 and 2013.

Mr Kenyatta initially called for calm after the decision in a television address, but later referred to the judges as wakora (meaning crooks in Swahili), saying they had “decided to cancel the election”.

The decision to only include Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga on the ballot has been controversial, with at least one of the six other candidates threatening legal action over their exclusion.

The poll had raised fears of major violence similar to that following a disputed vote in 2007, when post-election violence left 1,200 people dead.

Although the unrest after this year’s vote was not as serious as that in 2007, days of sporadic protests left at least 28 people dead.

Analysis

By BBC Africa’s Dickens Olewe

The announcement of the date for the re-run of Kenya’s presidential election kicks off a series of events that will ultimately determine what kind of election Kenyans will have on 17 October.

The election commissioners have a tough task to win back the public’s trust after being criticised, mostly by opposition supporters, since Friday’s ruling.

The public will be watching to see if the electoral commission’s chairman, Wafula Chebukati, will follow through with his promise to restructure his team before the re-run to improve public confidence.

Eyes will also be on other groups including the international election observers, the Kenyan media and opinion pollsters – who are now perceived to have made the wrong call when it came to the 8 August presidential poll.

The lavish event celebrated the marriage of the son of a Nigerian billionaire and his Iranian-born wife

Sir Winston Churchill’s ancestral home was adorned with a million white roses as part of a wedding estimated to have cost £5 million.

Folarin Alakija, the son of a Nigerian oil tycoon, married Nazanin Jafarian Ghaissarifar, a model, at Blenheim Palace. The event included a 12ft wedding cake and a performance by the pop star Robin Thicke.

Nazanin Jafarian Ghaissarifar and Folarin Alakija

The groom’s mother, Folorunsho Alakija, 66, has an estimated fortune of £1.6 billion and has been ranked as the 14th richest person in Africa by Forbes. She was placed 80th on the global Power Women list and in 2014 overtook Oprah Winfrey, the American chat show host, as the richest woman of African descent.

Wedding pictures were circulated on social media at the weekend, showing the couple sharing…

It is the second time in six months that party rebels have mounted such a challenge and they are thought likely to try again.

Under pressure

The BBC’s Karen Allen in Johannesburg says the ANC now looks like it’s in permanent firefighting mode

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThe president has been criticised for what are alleged to be his close ties to the influential Gupta business familyImage copyrightREUTERSImage captionPresident Jacob Zuma is coming under increasing pressure to step down

Emails between President Zuma’s son Duduzane and figures from a company owned by the controversial Gupta family – who reportedly wield considerable influence over Mr Zuma – include a letter to the Abu Dhabi royal family, our correspondent says.

“I am happy to inform you that my family has decided to make the UAE a second home,” the president is quoted as saying. “It will be a great honour for me and my family to gain your patronage during our proposed residency in the UAE.”

This opens up questions as to whether this is part of an exit strategy, with Mr Zuma’s party appearing to be turning against him, our correspondent adds.

While the Secretary-General of the governing African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, said the list of ministers which Mr Zuma presented to the party leadership was compiled “elsewhere”.

A fellow KwaZulu Natal province comrade Zweli Mkhize, who runs the ANC’s treasury, also came out against the president. “I have my reservations on the process followed and the manner in which this cabinet reshuffle was done,” he said in a statement.

Mr Ramaphosa, who is not known for his brevity, suddenly came out guns blazing over the weekend.

“The events that are unfolding now, are not events that should make us scared. They are not events that should make us afraid of the future that beckons.”

And then he went further.

“A moment of great renewal is upon us and we should not let it go by. We should grasp this nettle because that moment has arrived,” said the man who helped write the country’s constitution.

“Let us act together in unity! Unite our movement, unite our country around one goal.

“The goal of making South Africa great. The goal of making South Africa corruption-free. The goal of making South Africa a South Africa we can all be proud of – and getting rid of greedy people, corrupt people within our land.”

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionThe president has faced and survived significant challenges in his political career

You do not need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what the shrewd lawyer was saying here.

This is a clarion call for the people to rise and support him.

But will they?

At a crossroads

We have been here before.

President Zuma’s obituary has been written many times before only for him to rise from the ashes.

Political analyst Dumisane Hlophe told me that Mr Zuma is unlikely to be removed.

“He is not going down any time soon. In fact he may be in pole position. He has consolidated his power where decisions are taken within the party. In the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC).

“The numbers within the NEC are what counts and in there he has considerable support.”

In its 23 years of freedom South Africa, which came with much promise when Nelson Mandela took over as the first black president in a post-apartheid world, finds itself at a crossroads yet again.

The question is whether this time around, the people of Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Ruth First will cross the Rubicon.